秋の夜のつゆも曇らぬ月を見て
置きどころなきわが心かな
置きどころなきわが心かな
- Roma-ji
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Aki no yo no tsuyu mo kumoranu tsuki o mite okidokoro naki waga kokoro kana
- English Translation
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On an autumn night
not a dewdrop dims the moon,
and gazing on it,
with no place to set it down,
how restless is my heart
- Meaning
- Gazing at the autumn moon, not clouded in the least, my heart cannot settle anywhere.
- Commentary
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Book Three Autumn Poems 103
Headnote: "Composed for a poetry contest held at the house of Ienari, Commander of the Left Gate Guards"
The author is listed here as an unnumbered poet, but the Shikashu attributes the poem to the monk Ryūen. It was composed for a poetry contest at the house of Fujiwara no Ienari, Commander of the Left Gate Guards.
Looking at a moon without the slightest cloud, the poet's heart finds no place to rest. The wordplay is the highlight: tsuyu, "in the least," also means dew, and dew that settles leads to "no place to settle."
The first line, "aki no yo no," shows that the poem continues the theme of the autumn moon from the preceding poem.
In the second line, "tsuyu mo kumoranu," tsuyu is a pivot word meaning both "in the least" and dew on the grass.
The third line, "tsuki o mite," means "looking at the moon," the cloudless moon.
The fourth line, "okidokoro naki," means "no place to set it," and oku, to settle, is an associated word with the dew of the second line.
The last line, "waga kokoro kana," closes with the exclamatory kana, showing a heart unsettled by the moon.
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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